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Having guided Linsanity, Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni was hoping to make that magic happen again, this time with a dose of ‘Sacre bleu!”

With Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and their backup Jordan Hill all out, the Lakers called Robert Sacre back from the NBA Development League Showcase in Reno to do more than celebrate on the bench.

“Linsanity happened,” D’Antoni said. “I said yesterday, I hope Sacresanity happens. You know what, there couldn’t be a better guy who deserves it. He’s the most energetic, best guy on the bench that you could have. It couldn’t happen to a better person as it did to (Jeremy) Lin, it couldn’t happen to a better person. We’ll see. He has an opportunity. We’ll see if it strikes twice. If good things happen to good people, we have a good opportunity to have that adage go forward.”

Sacre will start at center against the Rockets with either forward Antawn Jamison or guard Darius Morris moving into the starting lineup. If Morris starts, that would make Metta World Peace the starting power forward, which could make it difficult for him to play extended minutes as a backup center.

“We still have two Hall of Famers on the floor,” D’Antoni said. “We just don’t have a lot of size. But I’m looking forward to a different type of game.”

D’Antoni agreed with Rockets coach Kevin McHale’s comment that playing fast and wide open with a small lineup fits D’Antoni’s style, but added, “I’m sure he’s happy Dwight Howard is out.”

For the struggling Lakers, the hope shifted to a pursuit of a turnaround in a rare time with low expectations, and even that they can rally through the adversity.

“There is always a potential for that happening,” Bryant said. “It’s one of the weird things about sports. You see that happen a lot, guys tend to come together, rally around each other. Some things we’ll have to do a little differently. We’ll spread the floor a lot more. Defensively, we’ll do things differently because we don’t have 7-footers back there. We’ll change some things up.

“It’s just the nature of the beast. Tough times I truly believe can bring a team together. If we happen to be one of those teams that pulls together through tough times, you wind up becoming a serious juggernaut in the playoffs because you’ve been through things other teams have not. That gives you a stronger bond.”